Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Saturday, March 05, 2011
at the breakfast table
It was a typical Saturday morning at the breakfast table....
me: (reading newspaper) Quite a few scholarships being advertised in the papers today.
her: Banana?
me: Huh? What banana? I said there's quite a few scholarships being advertised today.
her: I said "Khazanah" lahhhh.
me: Oh.
Yeah, I heard "banana" pulak.
.
me: (reading newspaper) Quite a few scholarships being advertised in the papers today.
her: Banana?
me: Huh? What banana? I said there's quite a few scholarships being advertised today.
her: I said "Khazanah" lahhhh.
me: Oh.
Yeah, I heard "banana" pulak.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Pakistan's only Christian Government Minister Shot Dead
Republished from http://www.barnabasfund.org/pakistans-only-christian-government-minister-shot-dead.html (Wednesday, 2 March 2011):
Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian who opposed the country's controversial "blasphemy law", has been shot dead in Islamabad.
He died after gunmen opened fire on his car as he was travelling to work this morning (2 March). The Pakistani Taliban told BBC Urdu they carried out the attack, and pamphlets attributed to them and Al-Qaeda were found at the scene. They warned that anyone who criticised the blasphemy law would be shot.
Mr Bhatti (42) had received death threats for urging reform of the blasphemy law and because of his support for Christian mother-of-five Aasia Bibi, who was sentenced to death under it last November. But he remained defiant, saying last month, "I have been told by pro-Taliban religious extremists that if I will continue to speak against the blasphemy law, I will be beheaded. But he said his faith gave him strength:
"As a Christian, I believe Jesus is my strength. He has given me a power and wisdom and motivation to serve suffering humanity. I follow the principles of my conscience, and I am ready to die and sacrifice my life for the principles I believe."
Mr Bhatti's death comes just three weeks after he retained his ministerial position in a major government reshuffle - a decision that Pakistani Christians hailed as "astounding". It also follows the assassination of Punjab Governer Salman Taseer, a Muslim, who was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards in January because he also had spoken out against the blasphemy law and supported Aasia Bibi.
MP Sherry Rehman, a Muslim, who put forward an amendment in parliament that sought to abolish the death penalty for defiling the name of Muhammad, has also received multiple death threats. She was forced to withdraw the private member's bill last month.
In the wake of a hostile Islamist backlash to proposed amendments, the government has repeatedly stated that it has no plans to change the law.
Here's what the late Shahbaz Bhatti also said:
"I am mindful that in the struggle to protect the religious freedom, the rights of minorities...I can be assassinated. I can be killed. But I will continue to follow the principles I believe. I will continue to raise the voice of the voiceless. And I will not feel fear because of these threats, because I follow Jesus Christ who has given His own life for us."
*******
"Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:10)
*******
.
Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian who opposed the country's controversial "blasphemy law", has been shot dead in Islamabad.
He died after gunmen opened fire on his car as he was travelling to work this morning (2 March). The Pakistani Taliban told BBC Urdu they carried out the attack, and pamphlets attributed to them and Al-Qaeda were found at the scene. They warned that anyone who criticised the blasphemy law would be shot.
Mr Bhatti (42) had received death threats for urging reform of the blasphemy law and because of his support for Christian mother-of-five Aasia Bibi, who was sentenced to death under it last November. But he remained defiant, saying last month, "I have been told by pro-Taliban religious extremists that if I will continue to speak against the blasphemy law, I will be beheaded. But he said his faith gave him strength:
"As a Christian, I believe Jesus is my strength. He has given me a power and wisdom and motivation to serve suffering humanity. I follow the principles of my conscience, and I am ready to die and sacrifice my life for the principles I believe."
Mr Bhatti's death comes just three weeks after he retained his ministerial position in a major government reshuffle - a decision that Pakistani Christians hailed as "astounding". It also follows the assassination of Punjab Governer Salman Taseer, a Muslim, who was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards in January because he also had spoken out against the blasphemy law and supported Aasia Bibi.
MP Sherry Rehman, a Muslim, who put forward an amendment in parliament that sought to abolish the death penalty for defiling the name of Muhammad, has also received multiple death threats. She was forced to withdraw the private member's bill last month.
In the wake of a hostile Islamist backlash to proposed amendments, the government has repeatedly stated that it has no plans to change the law.
Here's what the late Shahbaz Bhatti also said:
"I am mindful that in the struggle to protect the religious freedom, the rights of minorities...I can be assassinated. I can be killed. But I will continue to follow the principles I believe. I will continue to raise the voice of the voiceless. And I will not feel fear because of these threats, because I follow Jesus Christ who has given His own life for us."
*******
"Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:10)
*******
.
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